The day is finally here. Almost five years after the killer cliffhanger of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter Parker is back in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It’s a film we’ve all been not just looking forward to, but looking forward to finding out how it ties to the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What secrets does it contain? Does it deliver on those promises? Let’s dive in with full spoilers. Be warned.
The biggest question going into Spider-Man: Brand New Day is who the hell is Sadie Sink playing? Her red hair suggested Mary Jane Watson. Her powers suggested Jean Grey. Both seemed a little too obvious. And, interestingly enough, the character’s identity is a mystery in the film too, up until Spider-Man gets a photo of her. Then he searches his databases to reveal that, drumroll please, she is, in fact, Jean Grey.
Jean Grey, of course, is one of the most famous and powerful X-Men in the Marvel Universe and, by putting her in this film, Brand New Day becomes not just a Spider-Man sequel; it’s also an X-Men prequel. Jean exhibits incredible powers, and while we at first think she’s evil, we soon learn she’s just desperately searching for her sister Sara Grey (RIP—we told you this was full spoilers). Jean is troubled but has a huge heart and, by the end, she and Peter have each saved each other’s lives, and she’s on a bus driving towards (what we assume is meant to be) upstate New York. Could she be headed to Westchester and Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters? We’ll have to wait and see.
(Side note: The reveal could possibly explain why Marvel Studios didn’t reveal any X-Men casting at San Diego Comic-Con. Clearly, Jean Grey is a big part of that, and they wanted to keep this secret safe.)
So Sadie Sink is Jean Grey and Brand New Day is the next step in the MCU’s version of the X-Men. Got it. In terms of other MCU connections, Brand New Day also does a good job of attempting to explain why Spider-Man isn’t a part of some other New York-set MCU stories, like Daredevil: Born Again or Thunderbolts. He gets some help from Yelena (Florence Pugh) who calls his activities “small potatoes” compared to the New Avengers’ “big potatoes.” That’s the first time we’ve gotten almost a ranking of where Spider-Man stands after everyone in the original Avengers had their Peter Parker memories wiped. Since he’s no longer a known quantity to everyone else, he’s just a kid helping people around the city. For now, at least.
But what about the ending? What about the end credits? Yes, we got it. The fact is, though, Spider-Man: Brand New Day doesn’t have some hugely ambiguous ending or end credits scene teeing up the future. Each is rather straightforward and effective, but let’s discuss anyway.
After Spider-Man and Jean Grey bond over their shared trauma, Peter takes a bullet for Jean, saving her, and then Jean acts as a psychic ventilator, keeping him alive while he heals from the wound. The new friends are even, and as Jean heads upstate, Peter finds himself with not just new powers, but a new perspective. He visits Aunt May’s grave and, after spending the past four years basically in isolation as Spider-Man, he tells her that he doesn’t want to do this alone anymore.
That pays off in the film’s phenomenal final scene where Peter sees Ned in a bodega, walks up to him, and Ned subconsciously does their secret handshake. Plus, armed with the knowledge he got from MJ of Spider-Man’s real name, when Peter introduces himself, Ned figures it out. This guy is Spider-Man. And now, that friendship can begin to blossom once again. Spider-Man is no longer alone. It’s a Brand New Day.
However, Peter wasn’t planning that interaction, right? It seemed like his seeing Ned was more of a coincidence than anything else. So, we think, while the scene does work to satisfy Peter’s desire to be around people again, the ultimate manifestation of that will be joining other superheroes, be that the New Avengers or some others. We think there’s much more to come from Peter’s new need for friendship.
Finally, at the very, very end of the credits, we see Ned’s Spidey Tracker. It’s searching for Spidey, and we watch as his location goes from New York, straight up into the sky, out of the atmosphere, into space, and past the moon. Yes, Spider-Man is going into space. Who’s he with and when does it happen? We’ll find out if not this December in Avengers: Doomsday, then next December in Avengers: Secret Wars.
There are a few other important dangling threads after Brand New Day too. Of course, while MJ does finally learn who Peter was and about their shared past, she admits she simply doesn’t love him. It’s something we’ll have to see if Peter tries to change or just lets go. Also, the head of Damage Control, Bill Metzger, played by Severance‘s Tramell Tillman, remains at large at the end of the film. Whether or not he’s going to continue to be a threat or not is unclear, especially with Doctor Doom on the way, but it’s worth mentioning.
Also, you have to acknowledge that at the end of Brand New Day, Peter Parker, Spider-Man, and the city of New York are all changed. Peter has dealt with his loneliness and trauma and is ready to start things fresh. Spider-Man has biologically evolved into a stronger superhero, ready to face bigger and badder villains. And the city has embraced and fallen in love with Spidey in ways we haven’t quite seen before. All of those are things that could come into play in the future.
So no, while Spider-Man: Brand New Day doesn’t have some epic tease to blow our socks off, it does give us a lot of solid MCU teases, a brand new X-Men character, and plenty of places to go with Spidey in the future.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now in theaters.
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